From Aceves, Doubront, Sadly More of the Same

To me, there have been two really notable things to happen thus far in Red Sox camp. The first came when Larry Lucchino spoke the other day … I’ll spare you a full soapbox soliloquy, but anyone who doubts the power of fans keeping their wallets closed should compare Lucchino now with what he sounded like a year ago. One winter of the toughest ticket sales this ownership group’s seen, and the tune changes a ton.

Of course, it’s Lucchino, so ‘honesty’ is him wanting to traipse around in a Cody Ross jersey making sure we all know the Red Sox are 22nd in “TV homes.” Baby steps … one more year of this and they might consider thinking about possibly exploring a drop in ticket prices.

The other, however, came Sunday. And oh, you’ve heard about it by now.

The post session chatter between manager and pitcher. (AP)

John Farrell on Alfredo Aceves’ live batting practice session on Sunday, in which the volatile righty simply lobbed the ball for the majority of the work rather than throwing full speed: “The one thing I’ll say is he didn’t go through the drill as intended, and we’ve addressed it. He’s healthy. With the designed effort level that every pitcher goes through, it was better the last few (pitches). And it’s been discussed.” (WEEI.com, Video)

EVERYONE ELSE ON ALFREDO ACEVES’ LIVE BP SESSION

CSN’S Mike Giardi (with video of session): ”Alfredo Aceves is a uniquely talented individual. A guy who is capable of filling any role on a pitching staff, but there are certain personality defects … that helped get him knocked out of New York and may end his time in Boston. … We’ve seen too many incidents over time with Alfredo Aceves doing his own thing, and that doesn’t fit into the Red Sox plan. Certainly, their new plan.”

CSN’s Sean McAdam: “A club source, when asked if Aceves seemed to be testing the new manager, said: ‘Absolutely.’”

The Herald’s Steve Buckley: Why on earth is Alfredo Aceves still with the club? Yeah, yeah, yeah, he has a live arm and he’s versatile. But he’s also a troublemaker, and a big one, which makes it preposterous that the Red Sox are keeping this guy around … Aceves could very easily put up great numbers were he to be moved. But it’s worth the gamble. The Red Sox have a future to consider, and Aceves is not part of that future. He is part of their sorry past. Get him gone.”

WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford: ”Most know about the blow-ups with Valentine, both on and off the field. But the animosity toward the skipper would manifest in other ways. For instance, there was the sight of Aceves showing up consistently just two hours before the game in the final few weeks of the ’12 season — not even participating in the team stretch for the last game. So, why is Aceves still around? … Despite his production, off-the-charts resiliency and well above-average stuff, multiple Major League executives told WEEI.com Sunday that Aceves wouldn’t bring back much value at all in any trade. … His greatest value to the Red Sox is on the mound, pitching in their uniform.”

For starters, am I the only person who finds it weird that basically every report about this whole thing describes Aceves’ behavior as “bizarre?” No other word. I can almost see “The Daily Show” clip montage in my head.

But more importantly, am I the only person more bothered by Felix Doubront than by Aceves?

GM Ben Cherington on Doubront, who’s being held from throwing off the mound due to soreness in his shoulder: “When he’s with us and we ask him to do stuff, he always does it with intensity. There’s plenty of time between now and Opening Day for him to do what he needs to do to put himself in position to be one of our starters and a guy we can rely on. … It’s important for a starting pitcher to do what they have to do to take the ball 30 times. Felix knows that. It’s something we’ve talked to him over time about, not just this spring but over time. He understands that.” (Herald Notebook)

Doubront, who maintains he focused most of his offseason work on cardio and building up his legs after only making it through 161 innings a year ago: ”It’s hard, man. The thing I learned is you have to work hard to throw more than 200 innings. That’s the thing I prepared myself to do this offseason, to reach those 200 innings. It’s a lot of work and a lot of effort. … Talking with Pedro (Martinez), that’s the first thing he mentioned: You have to put your body in that position to be strong the whole season.” (ProJo)

It’s not hard to see how much the Sox are behind Doubront. In that ProJo piece, Cherington talks of ”the best way to build a pitching staff is to integrate a young pitcher into the rotation and see him succeed.” New pitching coach Juan Nieves stresses “the sky’s the limit … he has all the tools.” Additionally, Cherington said Doubront should be throwing off the mound sometime this week, so there should still be time for the 25-year-old to get his work in before April 1.

But one of the main reasons Aceves is viewed as expendable is because the Red Sox rotation appears set to be populated by Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Ryan Dempster and Doubront, who bounced back from a lost 2011 — a season in which he was never right, at least in part, because he showed up to camp out of shape — to throw those aforementioned 161 innings last season.

The next logical step in Doubront’s progression should not be backward, but at best, it’s been lateral. He could have been used in 2011, especially in the latter days of the season. He’s truly needed, however, in 2013 and beyond.

Aceves could be dealt tomorrow without much loss for the current Sox product, and perhaps to the benefit of sparing a future headache. He is incredibly versatile and will almost certainly win a game or two at some point in the year, but it’s hard to see any concrete high-leverage spot for him. That was a formula for disaster last year when he was finally dumped from the closer’s role, and while that can be forgiven a bit given the Bobby Valentine factor, who can blame anyone for not thinking Aceves will deal well with being stashed in Pawtucket?

Doubront, however, is the kind of guy who’ll excel on the vaunted “next great Red Sox team.” At worst, he’s under Sox control for the next four seasons. No regular on the 2012 team, starter of reliever, had a better strikeout rate than Doubront’s 9.3 per nine innings. His 15 quality starts out of 29 — while admittedly not a perfect metric — tied Jon Lester for the best percentage on the team. The potential is readily apparent.

But there’ve been plenty of guys with “all the tools” who don’t live up to them, for any number of reasons. (Manny Delcarmen leaps to mind, for whatever reason.) Failure to put in the work is prominent among them.

Both Aceves and Doubront have something to prove from here until Opening Day. They also have plenty of time to prove it, and to make both their stories forgotten not long after the Sox return north. But given their relative ceilings, our relative indignance about what they’ve done thusfar is well out of whack.

Farrell, talking up Mike Napoli as a first baseman after the latter’s first day taking grounders at the position: “He’s got very soft hands. Even when you watch him take BP, his movements are smooth. We’re confident he’s going to be a very good first baseman.” (Herald Notebook)

Those notes have a nice little nugget of the day as well: ”Farrell on why slugger David Ortiz gets to ride around the back fields in a golf cart while the manager walks: ‘He’s been here longer.’” ALSO, HE’S CRIPPLED. HAVE I MENTIONED WE SIGNED HIM FOR TWO YEARS?! [INSERT NERVOUS LAUGHTER HERE]

Semi-related, both Daniel Nava and Lyle Overbay are taking work in the infield to increase their chances of making the team. Good piece on both, especially Nava, in the ProJo.

Farrell, talking up Stephen Drew, who’s missed most of the last two seasons after a gruesome ankle injury while with Arizona: “There seems to be no ill effect of the ankle injury. Through his ground ball work, from the team defense that we’ve run through so far, he’s very particular in just looking for feedback. Whether it’s in between rounds in BP to [how] the ball carries across the infield, trying to generate the exact rotation and backspin on throws to keep them true. He’s pretty meticulous in his work.” (Globe Notebook)

Dustin Pedroia on Jose Iglesias, with whom he worked out in Arizona this offseason: “A lot of veteran guys helped me out when I was younger, so I feel responsible to try to help any young player out the best I can. … I’ve just told him, ‘Man, use your strengths.’ His hand-eye coordination is so good, and he needs to find a way to use that. He hasn’t done that yet. He’s starting to figure it out. You can just tell in his (batting practice). He’s on top of the ball, using his hands. When it clicks for him, it’s going to be good.” (Herald)

Jonny Gomes, continuing his campaign to be more than just a platoon outfielder who faces lefties: “Everyone looks at the numbers. No one wants to look really into the game. Let’s pick any profession out there. Let’s pick painting. People will succeed and get to the higher level because they do a lot of it. It’s their passion; they do it every single day. If I told you this one guy works at painting six times a month, are you going with him or the guy who does it every single day? Hitting is timing, all timing. There have been times I’ve probably gone 10 days between facing righties. This game is 162 games; it’s not 16. You need those repetitions.” (Globe)

So far this spring we have talk of ignoring the numbers, and that “there’s no sabermetrics for winning.” Plus, he goes on that story praise his former manager, Cincinnati’s Dusty Baker. Kid’s on an old-school roll, to be sure.

Speier, on why the Sox opted for Gomes over Cody Ross, who left for Arizona on a three-year, $26-million deal: “The Sox, according to multiple industry sources, wanted to give Ross a two-year deal with what the team considered a high average annual salary — perhaps something in the vicinity of the two-year, $15 million or $16 million range. Ross wanted a three-year deal. … The certainty of Gomes at a price with which the Sox were comfortable — even if it represented a top-of-the-market offer — made more sense for Boston than did the idea of holding out and hoping to find common ground with Ross.” (WEEI.com)

Daniel Bard, talking up Farrell’s first camp compared to the one Bobby Valentine ran last season: “Even when camp broke, some guys were in positions that they weren’t quite comfortable with. Nothing felt really set in stone. It felt like we were just winging it to start the season. I don’t think we’ll have that feeling as much this year. … He’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t have that feeling anyway. Guys kind of know more what to expect, whereas last year, we weren’t quite sure how things were going to be run. It feels like there’s a lot less drama, a lot less distraction surrounding the team.” (Herald)

Also, Bard — for what it’s worth, which isn’t much as this early hour — is off to a solid start on the mound.

Will Middlebrooks, recalling his breakthrough MLB moment last May 6: “When I hit that grand slam and Papi’s waiting on me at home plate, that’s something that will stick with me forever. That’s when it hit me, like, ‘Man, you’re in the big leagues now.’ … I always had it in my head that I could make it up here. That’s what I always wanted to do. But your thoughts and your dreams seem light years away, and then, before you know it, you’re living it.” (Herald)

On who’ll pitch for the Sox on Thursday, when they open the spring with their annual exhibitions against BC and Northeastern: “Farrell said Sunday that the two games — seven innings each — will likely be pitched exclusively by relievers, probably in one-inning stints. Farrell had said he hoped to get each starter seven games of action before the regular season. With more games this spring than usual — 39 rather than 35 — Boston can afford to hold its rotation regulars back until a few games into the Grapefruit League slate.” (ProJo Notebook)

ESPN Boston, with its latest report on the dysfunction within the Sox medical staff prior to this season: “Allegations that a former Boston Red Sox athletic trainer was illicitly injecting players with the legal pain-killer Toradol appear to be just the latest indicator of what one team source described as ‘open warfare’ between various factions of the team’s previous medical staff. The friction that existed for years between former medical director Dr. Thomas Gill and trainer Mike Reinold spilled over into the clubhouse, multiple sources told ESPNBoston.com. … The rift in the medical staff also divided the front office, according to multiple sources. Principal owner John W. Henry championed Gill, who as his personal orthopedist twice operated on Henry’s shoulder. … The baseball operations staff, meanwhile, backed Reinold.”

Great work from Gordon Edes and Joe McDonald on all these pieces this winter, which basically prove the Sox medical team was as much of a [bleep]show as it appeared from the outside. For his part, Cherington responded to this latest piece by noting the team has spent the last two seasons gutting/”reorganizing” the medical staff. That includes the departure of both Gill (after the 2011 season) and Reinold (after 2012).

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Jon Couture

Jon Couture has been covering the Red Sox for The Standard-Times since the 2003 playoffs, when management asked him the odd question, "Would you like to go to New York to cover the first two games of the ALCS?" Though he missed the memorable Don ... Read Full